Pakatan Harapan yet to settle seat negotiations

IT’S no surprise really that opposition FRONT (that’s really what it is – a mere front) Pakatan Harapan has yet to settle its seat negotiations.

Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Sarawak chief Baru Bian had to admit in front of his Malaya bosses PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali during a press conference today that some 20 per cent of the seats were still in dispute.

“We will negotiate this locally among Sarawak leaders and we will not involve central leadership unless necessary,” Baru is quoted as saying.

Interesting, he said the local leaders would not involve central leadership unless necessary – meaning the Malaya bosses of PKR, Democratic Action Party (DAP) and Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) are still really in charge.

When the children cannot settle their quarrels on their own, they need to turn to the adults.

When issues cannot be settled at branch level in a business, the head office always has to step in.

Well naturally for Malaya-based parties, they may have workers in Sarawak to do their bidding but really we all know who really calls the shots from across the South China Sea.

Anyway, I digress.

The opposition FRONT will reportedly continue with negotiations after Chinese New Year.

DAP has said that it is eyeing up to 40 seats – nearly half of the 82 seats to be contested, while Amanah is eyeing up to 11 seats.

Many of these seat apparently overlap with PKR including Batu Kitang, Tupong, Bengoh, and Tasik Biru.

There are reportedly also a number of seats still vacant with no potential candidate available such as Bekenu and Belaga.

This is despite Baru’s claim that the opposition FRONT would contest in all 82 seats, so I guess any candidate will do.

The Malaysian Insider story:

Pakatan Harapan to field candidates in all 82 Sarawak seats

By Ng Ai Fern

Pakatan Harapan has vowed to ensure that all 82 state seats are contested in the Sarawak elections, including Barisan Nasional strongholds such as the Tanjung Datu seat held by Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem.

PKR candidate for Tanjung Datu is Jajolkipli Numan, 51. But he was absent from the launching of the PKR southern zone election operation centre today where 22 confirmed candidates were announced.

Adenan has been the incumbent since 2006. In the last state polls, Adenan won in a three-cornered fight against PAS’s Nani Shari and independent candidate Gilbert Asson Kulong with some 3,000 majority votes. His opponents lost their deposits.

“We will ensure that no place (all 82 seats) will be won uncontested,” PKR state chairman Baru Bian told reporters after launching of PKR southern zone operation centre today.

Among those present were Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali, who was stopped by the immigration officer at Kuching International Airport briefly but he was allowed to enter the state after the officer called to verify his status.

PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who arrived yesterday to launch all operations centres, was allowed to enter the state.

PKR has so far announced 35 names during the launching of three operation centres throughout the state, ahead of an agreement of seat allocations with DAP and Amanah.

PKR state chairman Baru Bian admitted that a couple of the seats announced today were still in dispute, which the coalition partners will meet in mid-February to negotiate.

“We had settled on 80% of the seats and only 20% of the seats were still in dispute. We had agreed not to reveal these seats (with overlapping claims).

“We will negotiate this locally among Sarawak leaders and we will not involve central leadership unless necessary,” Baru told reporters.

DAP said that they were eyeing 35 to 40 seats, while Amanah is eyeing six to 11 seats, and many of the seats overlap with PKR, such as Batu Kitang, Tupong, Bengoh, and Tasik Biru.

There are also a numbers of seats still vacant with no potential candidate available such as Bekenu and Belaga.

In the 2011 state elections, PKR won three out of 49 seats, DAP won 12 seats out of 15 seats, while PAS lost all five seats.

The opposition pact had contested 69 seats while the now defunct SNAP contested in 26 seats, Parti Cinta Malaysia contested in six seats and independent candidates in 41 seats, providing BN with fights in each and every constituency for the first time, even though many of them lost deposits. – January 31, 2016